The 8 channel receiver with my new Turnigy 9x was a real Friday made one. None of the servo plugs would fit due to the pins fouling the case, then the brass tube at the end of the aerial fell off reducing the range to around 10 mtrs. The aerial looks complex, is there any solution other than the bin?

The antenna is simply what's called a "sleeved dipole". You can get the same effect by peeling back the outer metal braid of the antenna wire to the same length as the brass section was and pulling it back over the remainder of the cable. Trim the (now much longer) inner to the length that was previously poking out and put heatshrink over the whole lot -- that should work. I can do a diagram if that's not clear.

Just an update. Range seems limited to 150 metres but I did not get a chance to range check that receiver before the aerial fell apart so it may well be the receiver and not the new aerial mod. that is the problem. For interest, I borrowed my son's 3 channel GT2 rx from his model car for a comparison and stopped walking at over 500 metres when it was still going strong. That looks like a single aerial on that. Pretty good for a $6 rx. I also tried an aerial from an old GT2 rx on the 8 channel rx and got the same 150 mtrs as before.